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Thursday, June 18, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
Capitalism trumps caution in ‘Jurassic’
Third sequel isn’t
more than a decent
action movie
By CONRAD FOREMAN
Daily Arts Writer
Snapping
necks
and
cashing
checks. “Jurassic World” did a lot of
both over its opening weekend, featur-
ing dinosaur deaths by
the dozen and eclips-
ing domestic and inter-
national
box-office
records for an opening
weekend.
The fourth film in
the “Jurassic” fran-
chise resembles Steven
Spielberg’s original in
many ways. The key
difference
between
the two films — that in
“Jurassic World” the park is actually
open — creates an intriguing dynamic
that was only hypothetical in previous
films. This isn’t a visionary, seeking
counsel from top paleontologists; this
is a monstrous new dinosaur made
with a cocktail of genetics from vari-
ous predators — and it’s loose on an
island filled with more than 20,000
guests.
Among those guests are two broth-
ers, since no “Jurassic” film can be
without the child-in-peril aspect to the
story. Gray (Ty Simpkins, “Insidious”)
is the film’s innocent youth: about 10
years old and on the edge of his seat for
every dinosaur. Zach (Nick Robinson,
“The Kings of Summer”) is his older
brother, a teenage angst-bot oozing
repressed sexual energy. Zach treats
Gray like garbage, which the film
makes a point of often and unneces-
sarily. Both characters are rather flat,
which makes it hard to care a great
deal for either of them.
Isla Nublar, the fictional island
home to Jurassic World, may not
be in the U.S., but it is in Central
America. And Central America is
America, dammit. And where there’s
America, there’s someone trying to
weaponize something. In this case, it’s
head of security Vic Hoskins (Vincent
D’Onofrio, “Full Metal Jacket”), who
wants velociraptors trained for mili-
tary use. It’s a subplot that can’t carry
out on the scale it deserves, but it offers
the kind of fresh perspective needed
in a third sequel, and makes for one
hell of a lock-and-load sequence.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect
of the plot is the question of meddling
with dinosaurs’ genetics to produce
“cooler” attractions for mass audi-
ences. At odds here are capitalism’s
demand for continued growth and
caution in the face of playing God. At
this level, capitalism always triumphs
over caution. As Dr. Wu (B.D. Wong,
“Jurassic Park”) explains, they’ve
been playing God all along, it’s only
catching up to them now.
Science brought the dinosaurs back,
but the main attraction of “Juras-
sic World” is raptor-wrangler Owen
Grady (Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the
Galaxy”). Tough but compassionate,
rugged but refined, Owen is pure good-
guy in a film that never emphasizes
character depth. Owen shows respect
for these creatures as living beings, not
just theme-park attractions or weap-
ons. He’s enlisted to save Zach and
Gray, nephews of park manager Claire
(Bryce Dallas Howard, “The Help”),
as well as track down the hybrid beast,
Indominus Rex. Oh, and there’s a
love story between Owen and Claire,
though that’s not really important.
There are some truly wonderful ele-
ments to “Jurassic World”: the sound
of a dinosaur’s heavy step played over
a close-up of a bird’s foot is a genius
nugget of filmmaking; little kids riding
baby triceratops sets a new standard
for cuteness in dinosaur movies. The
action sequences pack appropriate
punch, and homages paid to “Jurassic
Park” are frequent, but done in meth-
ods more reverent than exploitative.
While cheesy lines of dialogue and
underdeveloped characters prevent
“Jurassic World” from being more than
just an action movie, it’s a damn decent
action movie.
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
People love to hate Madonna. I
know this firsthand, seeing as my
mother loves to hate Madonna …
and that was
probably
my
biggest reason
for loving the
queen of pop.
While
I
would normal-
ly argue bitch,
she’s
Madon-
na any time
mother dear-
est voiced her
disdain,
this
time, like most times, mom’s right.
We’ve been privy to the long-
anticipated video via Tidal teas-
ers and Instagram, with colorful,
punchy fan art and videos from
both Madonna and Nicki Minaj.
Apparently, that, along with fea-
turing an array of A-listers in
music videos, is a thing now (see:
Taylor Swift, “Bad Blood”). But
when Taylor did it, we didn’t lose
our focus — we were enthralled
with both the theatrical tale and
the true star, Swift. Pause: The
fact that Madonna even attempt-
ed to imitate this is both confus-
ing and out of character, seeing as
she used to set the bar that others
aspired to. Madge’s take on the
trend poses no storyline, aside
from debauchery featuring sock
puppets. In short, she’s forget-
table and she’s outshined by the
sum of star-studded cameos.
While she’s undeniably savvy
in her attempts of capitalizing on
the current zeitgeist — a video
exclusively for Tidal users fea-
tures not only music moguls (in
order of importance: Beyoncé,
Nicki, Kanye, Miley, Diplo, Katy
Perry and Rita Ora), but also front-
runner fashion designers Jeremy
Scott and Alexander Wang — the
weight of her guests’ combined
energies and cultural significance
rivals, if not tops, Madonna’s.
Though age is relative in
most cases, it’s time Madonna
starts acting accordingly to hers.
We know her body says she’s a
30-something crossfit junkie, but
her career speaks for itself, being
that of a longstanding innova-
tor in an industry that thrives on
freshness. She was shiny and new
at one point, continuing to main-
tain her signature ingenuity for
decades, and “Bitch, I’m Madon-
na” was the creed that established
this. But, Madonna, this video
pushes my love over the border-
line, and I’ve gotta agree with
mom on this one.
-CAROLINE FILIPS
INTERSCOPE RECORDS
C
Bitch, I’m
Madonna
Madonna feat.
Nicki Minaj
Interscope
Records
B
Jurassic
World
Universal
Pictures
Rave 20 &
Quality 16
MOVIE REVIEW